Marco Rubio aims for comeback with conservatives

Rubio denies he dropped the immigration push for political purposes. | AP Photo

Last week, Rubio got rave reviews from Rush Limbaugh and Iowa activists when the son of Cuban immigrants blasted the Hawkeye State’s veteran Democratic senator, Tom Harkin, in a floor speech over Cuba and Venezuela. Rubio has methodically tried to burnish his foreign policy credentials to carve out a middle ground between the GOP hawks and libertarians in his party, while recently making high-profile swings through Asia and Europe.

In a series of speeches in Washington and in Florida, Rubio is piecing together a domestic policy platform, rolling out proposals to overhaul higher education, such as by allowing the transfer of accredited online courses to traditional colleges, and provide a conservative alternative to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, including a new proposal to implement the earned income tax credit. On Monday, he was scheduled to drop by Google’s Washington headquarters to unveil what his aides call a jobs agenda, pushing measures like new trade agreements, reallocating federal spectrum for commercial wireless services and a tax reform plan he’s developing with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). That event, however, was postponed due to the weather.

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In the interview in the Capitol last week, Rubio denied he had begun to exert himself on other issues simply to regain his credibility on the right, saying indignantly: “Which issue did I take on after immigration that I wasn’t supporting before?”

“I was elected here as a constitutional conservative, and all the issues that I supported before immigration and after immigration are the same ones,” Rubio said.

Asked whether he abandoned immigration because of the conservative revolt, Rubio said he was simply being “realistic” because the Senate bill had “no chance” of passing the House. He said Congress should now pass individual pieces of immigration reform that have broad support, such as beefed-up border security, a position in line with GOP dogma. And he blamed President Barack Obama for the bill’s failure in the House, saying conservatives don’t trust the White House to implement the law.

“If anything, I think what everyone around here underestimated is how difficult it is to pass massive pieces of comprehensive legislation on any subject … given the fact that every massive piece of legislation that’s passed over the last 20 years has … by and large been disastrous.”

Despite the touchiness of the issue, Rubio is still in demand on the campaign trail.

The senator has raised money and stumped for Republican House special election candidate David Jolly, and for Gov. Rick Scott in his reelection bid against Rubio’s old foe, Charlie Crist, whom the senator called a “terrible” governor. He has barnstormed at rallies with conservative candidates, such as losing Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Ken Cuccinelli, and his political action committee dropped a six-figure ad buy behind Rep. Tom Cotton’s Senate bid in Arkansas.

He has helped bolster the campaign coffers of the GOP establishment, headlining several high-dollar events for the National Republican Senatorial Committee in New York and Washington — as well as for Karl Rove’s super PAC, American Crossroads. And after nine months of not using his name in its mailers, the Senate Conservatives Fund — an anti-GOP establishment group — praised Rubio in a December message to its supporters, even though it strongly opposed the immigration plan.

Through his leadership PAC, Rubio plans to stay out of contested primaries but will engage heavily in three or four Senate races this fall, potentially with TV ads on behalf of candidates. Already, through independent expenditures and contributions to other candidates, Rubio has dropped $460,000 on behalf of Republicans, something that could ingratiate him with his colleagues ahead of a prospective White House run.

Still, if the immigration issue is revived next Congress, it could come back to haunt him in early primary and caucus states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina next year.

For instance, Erick Erickson, founder of the Red State website, praised Rubio for “keeping his head down and allying with conservatives” since the bill passed the chamber last summer — even though his conservative website sharply criticized the immigration plan.

“I think there will always be those who will never consider him because of immigration, but for most I think they’ll take a fresh look,” Erickson said.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Alabama conservative and chief foe of the legislation, said Rubio made a “mistake” in co-authoring the bill, but he said he “really liked how” the Florida Republican repeatedly voiced concerns about the measure as it worked its way through the process. By raising those concerns, however, proponents say Rubio undermined the bill’s chances for success.

Sen. Tim Scott, the conservative from South Carolina who opposed the immigration bill, said the issue “isn’t so toxic” that it’s disqualified Rubio in the state.

But, he cautioned: “If you get it wrong, it’s going to hard to be right in South Carolina.”